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CU-Boulder students to build tiny spacecraft to explore 'killer electrons'

By Camera staff

Posted:
12/28/2009 07:38:04 PM MST

Updated:
12/28/2009 08:27:13 PM MST

University of Colorado professor Xinlin Li holds a tiny satellite that will carry a CU student-built instrument package into space in 2012 to measure the behavior of so-called "killer electrons" that can have negative impacts on spacecraft and astronauts.

University of Colorado students will build a tiny spacecraft to observe particles in space that should give scientists a better understanding of solar flares and their interaction with Earth's atmosphere, according to CU.

The university's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and the aerospace engineering sciences department were awarded a grant of $840,000 over three years from the National Science Foundation for the project.

The project involves the development of a "loaf of bread-sized spacecraft carrying a miniature instrument package to observe energetic particles tied to 'space weather' in the near-Earth environment," according to a CU news release.

Graduate students will develop and test the experiment, conduct mission operations and analyze the data.

Known as the Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment, the instrument package is expected to weigh less than 5 pounds.

Data from the mission will shed light on the electrons trapped in the Earth's magnetosphere, often referred to as "killer electrons" because of their impact on spacecraft and on astronauts in space. Gaining knowledge about such electrons would help scientists understand how the particles accelerate to speeds that are dangerous to spacecraft and humans.

Students are expected to begin building the spacecraft in the spring semester and will use the aerospace engineering sciences department's machine and electronics shops.

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